Leno adds twin turbos and EFI and doubles FE!!!

[theclencher]

well... from 3 to 6. yup he's green alright- money green

http://www.popularmechanics.com/auto...html?series=11

[Erdrick]

You have to admit though, that is about the sweetest car ever. Man, I would love to drive that thing. It looks like the freaking phantom train from final fantasy vi!!!

Anyone on this site is going to see the contradictions in what Leno is doing. We are a small niche group of fanatics. Other people are going to be impressed by him though. Improvement IS improvement. We can't realistically expect someone like Leno, or anyone else living in America for that matter, to overnight adopt hypermiling techniques and start scooting around town in a peapod fuel-sipping miser-mobile. Just not going to be an instantaneous change like that.

People who watch Leno, and see what he is doing, are going to be more likely to copy him. I mean, seriously, people seeing us driving around in our little cars laugh, but when someone from Hollywood does it, they are a trend-setter. That my friends is how the world works. Double FE is double FE in my book.

[FormulaTwo]

Jet powered motorcycle and a Tank engine car.
I think Jay Leno is an idiot. I lost all respect for him whenever he decided to repeatedly use "Don't tase me bro" jokes.
David Letterman is way cooler. (Only because he went heads up with Bill Oreilly... PWNT)

Doubling mpg from 3 to 6 is very impressive. Especially in only 1500 man hours!!!

I don't think that trends are really set by what people drive. I think the cars do it themselves. The celebrities just increase awareness of a particular type of car.

The Bullitt mustang would have sold mustangs regardless of who drove it
If celebrities really set trends, then everyone would have jumped into a Honda Insight whenever John Travolta sported one in "BE COOL".
All John Travolta knows how to do is "BE COOL" (ask any woman over 50).

I wish they would remake "The Wraith" with a Tesla Roadster as the car. Maybe get Johnny Depp or someone to replace Charlie Sheen.
Now that would be sweet. (Also Clint Howard would have to stick around for the remake)

Anyway, I am rambling! I am going to sleep now.

P.S> Jay Leno did order a Tesla from what I read. (So I guess there is hope for him still... Giant headed rich bastard)

[GasSavers_DaX]

I love the Blastolene Special!

[JanGeo]

FYI for those who didn't catch the Mustang Special on the History Channel . . . the car was based on the old Ford Falcon and almost didn't get to production.

[GasSavers_Ryland]

Personaly, I am mildly impressed by what Jay Leno is doing, He has a very large personal collection of some rather rare vehicles, and is giving some very skilled people a chance to put their skills to work restoring, modifying, and maintaining them, and he might not be meeting everyones ideals, but he does write articals about how we need to take personal responsibilty to protect the enviroment befor it becomes required, things like recycling fluids and batteried, and reducing the number of harsh chemicals and cleaners that are used, a good artical to that point that was written a few years back was about how in his shop they replaced the solvent based parts washers with sonic parts washers that use mild soap and high freqency impulses to clean crud off vehicle parts.
I do kind of wonder what his most driven vehicle is, and what kind of mileage it gets.

[GasSavers_SD26]

Jay has an opportunity to do things others can't.

Obviously, he was looking to improve the Tank Car, which can be driven on Grand Turismo 4...LOL! Fast, but handles like a tank...

Anyway, I'm sure he was looking to just make it that much more powerful. That's fun for him, and he got better FE as a result.

Adding a Super Chips Micro Tuner to my bus was the same. I got an extra 100 ft-lbs of torque and a bonus 1MPG.

Progress is generated on the backs of those willing to spend the money on beta testing. VCR's were big bucks at one time, and movies were $70 each. Because there were people willing to buy those items, the market was created, developed, and the costs came down.

Similarly, although I don't think hybrids are much more than a transitional technology at this time, it needs the beta testers to buy them, beat them, and break them. Hopefully, the technology will change into diesel engine hybrids with batteries that are less expensive and not so damaging.

[VetteOwner]

Originally Posted by Ryland

Personaly, I am mildly impressed by what Jay Leno is doing, He has a very large personal collection of some rather rare vehicles, and is giving some very skilled people a chance to put their skills to work restoring, modifying, and maintaining them, and he might not be meeting everyones ideals, but he does write articals about how we need to take personal responsibilty to protect the enviroment befor it becomes required, things like recycling fluids and batteried, and reducing the number of harsh chemicals and cleaners that are used, a good artical to that point that was written a few years back was about how in his shop they replaced the solvent based parts washers with sonic parts washers that use mild soap and high freqency impulses to clean crud off vehicle parts.
I do kind of wonder what his most driven vehicle is, and what kind of mileage it gets.

its true you have to hand it to him, he accually knows a crapload about cars! but he does do maintince on them, drives them and well enjoys them!

SD26 brought up soem very intertesting poiints

all thsi new technology is expensive to produce at first and risky, it may make it and u will be rich but you have to dump hundreds of thousands into accualy making.licenseing, and roducing the product to start. (hell any of you remember laserdisks? looked liek a record sized cd that was essentialyl a VERY early dvd player, yet those thigns flopped so hard thier non existant) remember when a 64mb or a 128 mb MP3 player was liek $100? now you can get a 1 gig for $30 and has oodles of extras!

look at ANY new car out theres trac record. remember when the ford focus First came out? that thign sucked! Consumer reports hated it bigtime. Now look, they love the damn thign and its one of thier best picks. and its reliablility has shot up BECAUSE people have bought tested, figured out what breaks first or most often and improved upon it. so yes either hybrids or somehting else in the somewhat near future will be in every car. just have to give it time to see how people will react, how stuff holds up, etc. i mean noone wants a KNOWN $2000 repair bill 10 years from now for thing sliek batteries and other stuff that normally wears out that costs alot, get more people to buy them and more are produced thus cheaper for the consumer.